Elvis Presley's ex-girlfriend Linda Thompson knew she was destined to date the late singer when she was a child, despite their large age gap.

The actress romanced the music icon from 1972 to 1976, a year before he suffered a heart attack at his Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee and died, aged 42.

And although the love affair didn't last, Linda, now 66, insists she grew up convinced she would be The King's girlfriend."When I was six-years-old my parents and I were poor and we were living in what is known now as a project," she told U.S. chat show The Talk on Thursday (08Dec16). "So it was probably the fantasy of a little six-year-old girl, who had aspirations to marry Prince Charming, and Elvis was a local boy in Memphis.

"I just kind of blurted out one day, 'You know what momma and daddy, when I grow up I'm going to marry Elvis Presley', and it was an innocent comment when I was six-years-old."Elvis was 15 years older than Linda and her parents simply thought their young daughter had a crush on the popular singer, but she was adamant she would end up with him."My parents said, 'Well, honey by the time you're old enough to marry Elvis he'll be too old for you', and then I retorted, 'I don't care he'll still be singing Hound Dog,' and he was....," she continued.

Linda went on to marry transgender Olympian Bruce Jenner, who is now Caitlyn following a gender transformation in 2015, and she also predicted she would have a relationship with the athlete while she and Elvis watched Jenner compete in the Olympics.

"We were sitting in bed and watching the 1976 Olympics, this impossibly masculine man crossed the finish line... and Elvis said, 'Man, you know I'm not gay, but that's a good looking man isn't it,' and I said, 'Absolutely and one day I'm going to marry that man'," she said. "Just to tweak a little jealousy, you know how we do girls, and he said, 'Over my dead body, good luck with that'..."

Linda and Caitlyn were married from 1981 to 1986 and share two sons, Brandon and Brody.